1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to solder removal devices and is particularly directed to a solder removal device which can be repeatedly rearmed to permit successive use.
2. Prior Art
In the production of electronic apparatus, it is frequently necessary to make a plurality of solder connections in proximity to adjacent connection sites, where connections have been made previously or where they may be made in the future. In either event, excess solder from the current connection site may flow onto the adjacent sites and may disrupt existing connections or may result in the unintentional making of erroneous connections. If the excess solder is allowed to harden in the undesired locations, it becomes much more difficult to remove and may necessitate unsoldering and resoldering one or more previously made connections. Such reconnection is time-consuming and often results in the destruction of components, which increases production costs, and is also extremely stressful for the workers. In order to avoid these problems, solder removal devices have been proposed which can be used to remove the excess solder before it can harden or which can quickly remove remelted solder. Conventionally, these solder removal devices have been pen-like devices having a hollow barrel formed with a small nozzle projecting from one end of the barrel and having a spring-loaded piston within the barrel, which could be manually cocked and having a trigger which could be pressed to release the piston, causing the spring to drive the piston upward within the barrel to create a vacuum within the barrel to suck molten solder from an undesired location into the nozzle and, hence, into the barrel. However, recocking of these prior art devices for subsequent use has frequently been a two-hand operation, requiring that the device be held in one hand and cocked with the other. Consequently, it has been necessary for the user to set down his soldering iron or, at least, divert his attention from the soldering operation, in order to perform the recocking operation. However, several seconds are required to enable the operator to set down the soldering iron, perform the recocking operation and pick up the soldering iron again. This allows the solder to harden, which requires remelting, and tends to be distracting to the operator, which may interfere with the operator's concentration, especially during particularly demanding soldering operations. Furthermore, this procedure must be repeated many times during any production shift, which amounts to significant production losses over a period of time.
A search in the United States Patent Office has revealed the following references:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 3,263,889 W. S. Fortune Aug. 2, 1966 3,114,026 W. S. Fortune Dec. 10, 1963 3,543,990 W. S. Fortune Dec. 1, 1970 3,549,078 W. S. Fortune Dec. 22, 1970 3,818,539 W. S. Fortune Jun. 25, 1974 3,862,468 W. S. Fortune Jan. 28, 1975 ______________________________________
Each of these references is subject to the disadvantages discussed above. Thus, none of the prior art solder removal devices have been entirely satisfactory.